David Tennant feared Who call wouldn't come

David Tennant feared he wasn't going to get the call to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor in the 'Doctor Who' 50th anniversary special

David Tennant was worried he wouldn't get asked to appear in the 'Doctor Who' 50th anniversary episode.

The 42-year-old actor is to reprise his role as the Tenth Doctor in the upcoming special, but he feared the worst when producers took their time to approach him about starring in the BBC One sci-fi show again.

He said: "For a long time I was thinking it was never going to happen - so there was an element of surprise."

David, who is starring alongside current Doctor Matt Smith and John Hurt in the special, has told fans they can expect to see him portraying the titular character slightly differently to how he did when he took on the role from 2005 to 2010, because it wasn't the same with a trio of Time Lords in one episode.

He explained: "The Doctor tends to lead every scene he is in and when you are sharing that out it becomes slightly different."

The 'Broadchurch' star also insists the anniversary show will be able to appeal to new fans of the programme as well as dedicated Whovians.

He added to SFX magazine: "'Doctor Who' has managed to be a big success over the past few years by being accessible to everyone.

"We have never been about going for a particular audience - I think that aspect will be evident in this special."